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"Weird" chips and how to find them (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

This is kinda an unorganized post, so sorry for that.

Recently, I've been thinking about creating a computer in the form factor of the "Handheld PCs" that were around during the 1990s. It's mainly just for me but I wouldn't mind selling a few to the small community of nerds who like those things. I'm trying to avoid making another PC or ARM device like someone would normally do just because I'm not really a fan of either of those architectures or the monopoly they represent.

I've been considering the MIPS-compatible X2000 from the Chinese semiconductor firm Ingenic but unfortunately that chip doesn't have an external memory controller so you're limited to just the 128M/256M of DRAM in the package which is less than ideal.

So, has anyone heard of any weird chips lately? Idk where else to ask. I don't know where people who make computers discuss things like this.

(Btw if you're interested in this topic you may enjoy www.greenarraychips.com. It's Charles H. Moore's outfit, the guy who invented Forth. They make cute little chips with many independent stack machines on them. Not useful for this project but still pretty cool. This is not an ad, I just like weird computers.)

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why not something RISC-V? There are some pretty robust SBCs now that could be bolted into a screen and keyboard.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm looking to design my own board. I'd use a RISC-V chip but they seem to be impossible to find through the usual electronics distributors. I might email SiFive or one of the other vendors but I suspect I won't be able to acquire just a few chips cheaply...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I wonder if some of that is because a lot of the RISC-V SBC products I've seen are Chinese designs-- maybe they're not as widely available in the Western supply chains.

The Usual Sources (Mouser or Digikey) don't stock my favourite RISC-V MCU (WCH CH32V30x), but you can buy them all day long on AliExpress.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wonder if SexyCyborg would have any ideas. She's the most cyberpunk human being on the planet, if anyone would know where to get unusual chips in China she would.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Is she a Hexbear user?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Oh I had never heard of that vendor! I'll have to check them out. I've been looking at AliExpress on and off but it's really hard to find stuff unless you know exactly what you want.

There's some nice designs in China that seem impossible to get in the West. Would love to check out some of Loongson's offerings or something like that. There's also a line of Russian microprocessors called "Elbrus" that have a very interesting VLIW architecture. But that's definitely impossible to get now with the sanctions.

I guess neither of those would be suitable for a portable device anyway lol. Maybe I'll just deal with it and get some cheap widely available ARM stuff.